Film Series: Guilty Pleasures

The AAU Library was full of students Friday, Feb. 27 and they did not come to study. Every two weeks film lovers of the university gather to get to know their professors better through the art of film.

AAU Film Club came up with the series Guilty Pleasures, where the professors can show their favorite film, “the one that we’ll never play in the class,” according to Anthony Marais, Composition professor, who held an opening speech Feb. 27.

As it happens sometimes, people love films that are “bad” in all senses or are plain weird, and they cannot explain why. They probably saw them in a certain period of time and the films helped them to get over hardships. This is the goal of Guilty Pleasures – to share this moment of enlightenment.

Douglas Dix opened the series with a small speech, where he described his perception of the series as something peculiar. Dix was planning to show “Mr. Arkadim,” “Vivre pour vivre” (Live for life) or “Red Sky at Morning.” The final decisiontaken a few moments before the screening was “Wonder Boys.” The film evokes the memories of the time when life was out of control, supported by the creative crisis. It much resembled the period when he saw it, “however, I’ve never wore my wife’s pink wardrobe,” said Dix.

The second film screening March 13 was the turn of professor Stephen Delbos to show his pick. Professor Delbos was struggling with the choice up until the last 30 minutes before the event, when, “the gods of Guilty Pleasures brought me down to Earth,” he said. He introduced possible films that he wanted to present, including “Blood Sport,” “The Outsiders,” or “Thrashin’,” nevertheless, the movie that was screened was “Last tango in Paris.” “The film has the moments of genius and weirdness,” said Delbos. As he later explained, he came across this film about six years ago and somehow it correlated with the hard period in his life and helped to get through it. “Maybe it was just what I needed,” he said.

It is possible to enjoy Guilty Pleasures every second and fourth Friday of each month. Library provides guests with snacks, drinks, and friendly atmosphere. According to Marais, “you are not allowed to analyze anything or anyone for their choice, whatever it is,” and this is the main rule of attending the series.